Last week Chris Mason called out a number of his teammates for a lack
of effort during a third period collapse against the Nashville
Predators. Apparently Blues fans focused in on Barret Jackman as the
object of their hate and discontent. When the home crowd openly cheered
after finding out he would be scratched against the Dallas Stars, may be
the fans took it a bit too far. From
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“We always say that we have the best fans because of the
support they give us, but to flip the switch on a guy like that, who’s
battled so hard, maybe we need a reality check,” said one Blues player,
who requested anonymity. “To do that, without knowing the full story,
it’s definitely disappointing.”

The full story, it
turns out, is that Jackman had been playing through two — not just one
— injuries over the past week and was scratched when he no longer could
make it through. One injury he sustained against Nashville, the other he had been working through for a couple of weeks. The Blues had been holding on to a glimmer of a
playoff hope, and Jackman, who has been on the team since 2001, was
doing all he could to help a team.

Now the question is, did his
bravery hurt the team in the long run? Over the past five games he had
no points and was a minus-5, certainly uncharacteristic for the solid
defenseman. Being a tough hockey player fighting through injury for the
sake of the team is certainly admirable, but when it affects your play
and hurts the team then maybe sitting out a few games would ultimately
help.